Pipe-welding process.



No. 837,976. PATENTED DEC. 11, 1906.

J. H. TAYLOR. PIPE WELDING PROCESS.

APPLIOATION FILED HARJ; 1904.

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J. H. TAYLOR, PIPE WELDING PROCESS. APPLICATION FILED MAR.5,1904,

L EBM JA E5 HALL TA LCJP UPI E WFEETEE; Maw 07% (Z? WM, n o m formin'particu arly well adapted for use in making JAMES HALL TAYLOR, OFCHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PIPE-WELDING PROCESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 11, 1906.

Application filed March 5,1904. Serial No. 196,681.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES HALL TAYLOR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Pipe-Welding Processes,(Case 8,) of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exactdescription, reference be ing had to the accompanying drawings, forminga part of this specification.

My invention re ates to an improved process for making pipe or tubing.

While my invention may be employed in an endless variety of tubing, itis tubing of very thin sheet metal, and the tubing thus formed may, ifdesired, be of rela-" tively large diameter. For instance, my inventionmay be emplo ed in formin pipe anywhere from two or t ree inches iniameter'to forty or fifty inches in diameter, and the sheet metalemployed for this pur ose may be of only one-sixteenth of an inc or lessin thickness. Tubing formed in this way mag be used for conveying gasesor fluids un er relatively low pressure. My invention relatesparticularly to a process for formin tubing in which the two edges of alap or utt joint are welded toether. One process which has been used inorming such welded tubing consists in heatin onl those portions of-themetal of the i together.

tu e a jacent to the edges which are to be welded together, theremainder of the shell" of the tube being mantained at a relatively lowtem erature. In accordance with this roces s t e sheet metal of whichthe tube is to e formed is first shaped so as to bring the ed es whichare to be welded into roper we dingposition. The joint is theniieated bysuitable means and the two edges welded It has heretofore beenimpossible or at least impracticable to in this way bring the edges to apro er welding heat and to maintain them at -t is welding temperatureduring the welding rocess, particularly if the sheet metal of W ich thetube is to. be formed is comparatively thin, and especially when tubesare made of the smaller diameters, where it is impossible to use afurnace on the interior of the pipe. beenpossible to maintain the outerlap of a lapped joint at the proper temperature, the

inner lap has been so far cooled as toprevent the pro er weldin of the'oints.

Anot er metho which as been employed been that of While it may have inmaking welded tubing has been to form a suitable sheet-metal blank intoa tube of circular or other cross section. The whole tube has then beenheated and the joint brought to a welding temperature; but in thisprocess the entire walls of the tube must necessarily be brought to sohigh a temperature that they become exceedingly flexible, and it is imossible to make them retain their shape unti the welding has beenaccomplished. In forming pipe of large diameter and very thin metal itis absolutely impossible to make the tubing retain its shape during thewelding process by the above -men-- tioned method of the prior art.

Another method which has heretofore been employed in forming welded pipehas roviding a furnace not only upon the outside of a pipe of circularcrosssection, but also upon the interior. These two furnaces heat thejoint which is to be welded. This method introduces seriousdiflicultiesfirst, for the reason that it is important to have an evenand uniform width of lap throughout the length ofpipe to be welded, andit is extremely difficult to form and maintain such a uniform lap-jointon a tube of circular cross-section. The maintenance of a uniformlap-joint of this character is interfered with by the tendency of themetal to creep and strain under the influence of the heat and thewelding-hammers. It has been attempted to overcome the difficultiesconnected with the last-mentioned process by heating the entire tube toa temerature somewhat, less then the welding iieat of the la ped joint;but, as I have before mentione the heating of'all the metal of a tubeformed of thin material causes it to collapse and warp out ofshape.

It 1s the primar object of my invention to provide a process or formingtubing in which the joint or seam may be maintained at a weldingtemperature for a sufficient length of time to permit'the Weldingoperation and at the same time to rovide means for retaining the largerortion of the shellat a low temperature, w ereby its shape may beretained during the welding process.

ICO

The objects of my invention are accom lished by my im roved process,which ma he described as fo lows: A sheet of iron, stee very muchflattened blank. I have found it preferable to so form this blank thatthe joint is brought very close to the ppposite or other suitable metalis first-folded into a I I o plished.

wall of the blank. The joint is then heated to a welding temperature, asis also the por- 3 tion of the wall directly opposite and very 1 Afterthe furnace such that the lapped joint itself will be heated to awelding temperature and so, also, that the portion of the wall of theblank directly opposite the lapped joint will also be heated to a hightemperature. The heated portions are indicated in Figs. 2 and 3.

The apparatus for carrying out this process is shown in Figs. 7 and,8.The furnace in which the bent material 'is heated is divided 1 into anupper and a lower portion, the lower when cold, and by heating can beformed into serves to radiate sullicient heat to the inner i side of thejoint to maintain it at a high tem perature until the welding can beaccoml have found it desirable to make my'improved process continuous sofar as the formation of a single tube is concerned. This is accomplishedby providing means for carrying the flattened tube continuously througha suitable furnace, whereby the joint and the opposite strip of metalare brought tothe proper temperature just as they emerge from thefurnace. Suitable welding mechanism is provided very close to the mouthof the furnace whereby the joint may be subjected to suitable pressureimmediately upon leaving the mouth of the furnace, whereupon the weldingmay be accomplished before the metal has an opportunity to coolappreciably.

By means of my process I am enabled to form tubing of very thin sheetmetal and of very much larger diameter than has heretofore beenpossible, and it is possible also by means of my invention to very muchimprove the character and strength of the welded sheet metal. I

My invention will be more clearly understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 illustratevarious steps in my improved process of forming a welded tube. Fig. 7shows a furnace in longitudinal vertical section and hammering apparatusassociated therewith, and Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on line 8 8of Fig. 7.

In Fig. 1 I have shown the sheet-metal blank whose edges 11 and 12 areto form the joint and which may or may not be scarfed, as founddesirable. In carrying out my process this sheet is folded into a blank,as repre- 'sented in Figs. 2 and 3, Fig. 2 showing the folded blankhaving scarfed edges and Fig. 3 showing a blank in which the edges havenot been scarfed. After being folded into the form shown the foldedblank is placed in a portion consisting of the metallic inclosing sidewalls 13, front wall 11, rear wall 15, and the base in, while the upperpart consists of the metallic inclosing side wall 13, front wall 11,rear wall 15, and the roof-wall 16, this entire upper part beingsuitably supported from the framework 17. Both upper and lower portionsare provided with a lireresisting lining 18, to form the. lower andupper combustion-chambers 1t) and 19, respectively. Through the rearwalls and into the combustion-chamhers extend the burners 2t) and 2t).tween the upper and lower parts of the furnace passes the folded blank2'. and forms the upper wall for the lower fuel-chamber and the lower'allfor the upper fuel-chamber, the lapped edges 11 and 12 beingdisposed in the center of the furnace, and to coniine the heat to thelapped edges and to the section 23 of the opposite wall the lower sidesof the furnace parts are ledged inwardly. To retain the edges in properalinement, and also to prevent buckling of the blank upon being heated,plates 24 may be provided at the interior thereof, and clamps 25 mayengage over the outer edges of the blank, as

shown in Fig. 8, the entire structure being then securely held in properposition and may be drawn through the furnace forwardly by hand or bymachinery.

Directly before the outlet 26 of the furnace is placed the anvil 27, anda hammer 28 is pivoted to the. shaft 29, supported in thebearing-standard 29. Mounted in the bearing-standard 30 is the shaft 30to which are secured the cam-wheel 31 and the drivingwheel 31, engagedby the belt b. Upon rotation of the driving-wheel the cam-wheel 31engages the projection p from the shaft 29,

'and thus causes oscillation of the hammer.

Directly below the hammer is disposed the anvil 27 the blank to bewelded being drawn over the anvil, with the lapped edges below thehammer. Upon emerging from the furnace the blank passes over the fixedanvilplate 32, whose end extends over the anvil,

and thus prevents welding together of the blank walls. The radiation ofthe heat from the section 23 opposite the lapped edges assists inmaintaining the high degree of temperature of the joint-until t-l ededges are struck by the hammer to be w lded together. As the engagementof the end of the anvil-plate 32 with the lapped edges and the Throughthe space 21 besection 33 is only for an instant, no'heat is abstractedthereby, and at the same time the edges and the section 23 are preventedfrom being welded together. .ilter the seam has thus been closed thefolded blank maybe ex-' pauded into the form of a circular tube, asshown in Fig. 4, this expansion being acc0mi plished without heating themetal.

if other cross-sections are desiredsueh, t for instance, as those havingsharp corners the entire blank may he heated to a compara tively lowtemperature, when it may be formed into a tube ol" any desired cross-sectionp in Fig. 5 l have shown a'i olded blank in which the lapped jointis brought near one edge. The process of welding such a blank is ofcourse similar to that already described in connection with the foldedblanks shown in Figs. .2 and 33.

In Fig. ti l have illustrated a folded blank consisting of two portionsnumbered 13 and 14, respectively. The edges oi these portions areoverlapped, as shown, whereupon they may be heated and welded, asalready described in connection with the blanks shown in Figs. 2 ,and 3.in this modification the heat radiating from each of the joints assistsin maintaining the necessary high temperature ol' the other joint. Theform of folded blank shown in Fig. 6 may be used with advantage onextremely large pipe, in which it is dillicult to procure single sheetsof su'llicient width to form the entire tube.

it will be seen that my improved process provides means whereby a weldedpipe of very great diameter may be formed from exceedingly thin sheetmetal. The tube formed 'in this manner is not buckled or warped" or bentin any manner during the welding process, and for the reason that thewelding temperature of the joint may be perfectly maintaineduntil thewelding operation has been accomplished the joint thus formed will be ofvery great strength and i homogeneity.

It w ll of course be understood by those 1 skilled in the art that agreat variety of apparatus may be employed for carrying out my process,which indeed may be modified without departing from the spirit of myinvention.

What 1 claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The process of forming a seamed tube, which consists in folding asuitable metal sheet into the form of a flattened blank in which thejoint is brought close to the shell of the opposite side, heating thejoint to a welding temperature and the portion of the shell opposite thejoint to approximately the same temperature, and then welding the jointby the application of suitable pressure.

7 2. The process of forming a seamed tube, which consists in folding asuitable metal sheet into the form of a flattened blank in which thejoint is broughtclose to the shell of the opposite side, heating thejoint to a welding temperature and heating the portion of the shellopposite the joint, and then welding the joint by the application ofsuitable pressure.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 16th day ofFebruary, A. D. 1904.

J AMES HALL TAYLOR.

Witnesses:

HARVEY L. HANsoN, CHARLES J. SCHMIDT.

